OSGrid. A great virtual world to explore

Since the launch of the OpenSim channel, members shared tons of pictures from this new cluster of worlds.

Today, I'd like direct your attention to OSGrid, one of the most interesting OpenSims here around. You can join the OSGrid world, here

Have a look at this nice photo, taken by Baldr in a cute hangout of the OSGrid world


click the image to view it all size

Machinima to advertise your virtual world business

Sim owners, virtual worlds small companies and metaverse providers probably could be interested in low cost measures to advertise their business. Machinima is a such great tool to obtain results with a minimum effort.

I suggest you to watch this fantastic machinima by Carla Broek, called: Fallen Gods and think about the potential of this art.

Explore Mythology using Virtual Worlds

This incredible image by Trixibelle, called: "Dream of the Minotaur" suggested me that virtual worlds could be powerful tools to explore not only human relations and our identities, but also our mitology and myths.

in Second Life and other virtual worlds, as The Sims or OpenSim, you can immerse in the ancient traditions and study their histories, recreate sceneries and simulate ancient civilities

If you made or know about some mythology images please leave their links here in the comments.....

Avatar Portrait. Depict the person behind his virtual representation

Virtual Worlds members take very seriously the idea of representing themselves and their friends using their avatars. So, one of the most widespread genre in the second life and/or metaverse art and photography is the "avatar portrait".

Have a look at this fantastic image by Trixibelle (aka Cala Rossini). Can't you feel the soul behind the pixel?


click the image to view it all size

The featured Machinima of the week on Hiperia 3d News

The Koinup Media Partner Hiperia 3d News just posted a couple of machinima, I'm sure you'd love to enjoy. Read more and watch the videos, here

The two machinima are:
Super Dancers in Second Life by Ai Miles and Carjacker by Ami Beattie (we wrote about this video, here)

SL Shakespeare Company’s Twelfth Night, Act 1 Photography Contest on Koinup

Shakespeare, Second Life and Brescia, Italy: The SL Shakespeare Company joins forces with Koinup to launch the world’s first major photography contest featuring a professional theatrical production based entirely in the virtual world of Second Life. Starting March 1, the contest invites participants to attend the SL Shakespeare Company’s open-ended run of Twelfth Night, Act 1 and take photos. Over L$100,000 in prizes will be awarded to the winners.

Enjoy the Contest

The contest consists of a main contest whose final submissions deadline is June 15, 2009. Several mini-contests with weekly or bi-monthly deadlines and prizes will be held starting in April. These mini-contests will be held in conjunction with several “Variations” on the open-ended run, where, for example, an all-female or switched-genders cast interpretation is tried.
To give all participants a chance, the contest introduces a special “Unedited SL Photography” category with its own exclusive prize.
The contest also has a special Avatar Photography category for photography that focus particularly on actor avatars. To help facilitate this specialized component, the SL Shakespeare Company will be holding special actor avatar photography sessions starting in April.

In efforts to recognize photography based not only on artistic merit but also on their appeal to different people, the contest will be judged by a panel of well-known Second Life residents from several different arenas. Judges include AM Radio, Ananda Valeeva, Beyers Sellers, Dana Vanmoer, Eshi Otawara, Frolic Mills, Ina Centaur, Jaymes Kjeller, Prad Prathivi, Rightasrain Rimbaud, Saffia Widdershins, Sarah Nerd, Tara05 Oh, Vint Falken, Verde Otaared, and others.

Shows occur weekly on Sundays at 1 PM PST and Tuesdays at 6 PM PST at the SL Globe Theatre. Performances are free except for shows on the last Tuesday and Sunday of each month. Donations are gratefully accepted.


About Twelfth Night, Act 1
Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night is the story of a shipwrecked girl named Viola, who chooses to go incognito as a boy eunuch. Act 1 establishes the love triangle that Viola, Duke Orsino, and Olivia become entangled in, and also introduces some of Shakespeare’s most memorable characters—Malvolio and Feste. Unlike the Bard’s other plays, Twelfth Night exists only in the folio editions.



About the SL Shakespeare Company
The SL Shakespeare Company (SLSC) is a resident-funded and resident-supported professional theatre company that embraces the best of what Second Life (SL) has to offer. While it is primarily known to provide quality live Shakespearean theatre available to anyone in anywhere in the world, SLSC is also the curator of Second Life’s most historically accurate theatres and architecture relating to William Shakespeare.



About Koinup
Koinup is a media-based social networking platform geared specifically for virtual worlds. Koinup users submit and share photography and machinima to share their stories and art outside their virtual world. The Koinup website features many tools to help users present and syndicate their work, and is also a center for some of the most exciting photography contests in virtual worlds. Koinup currently helps share the following virtual worlds: Second Life, The Sims, World of Warcraft, IMVU, OpenSim, Lively, vSide, Kaneva, There, and Other Worlds.

Press release by
Lora Constantine

A Combat RP Sim movie, made by WBA Advertising

The awesome machinima production studio WBA Advertising made a great video, set in the Battlefield Dune Sim. I invite you to watch and enjoy this cool movie


click on the player to leave some comments to the author

SL Shakespeare Company & Koinup partner to bring you the Twelfth Night Contest

It's the story of a shipwrecked girl who goes undercover as a eunuch in the crazy love-charged land of Illyria. The SL Shakespeare Company's long-awaited open-ended run of Twelfth Night, Act 1 is anon! This opening act evolves to reveal the love triangle that silly girl-castrato Viola gets herself into. The unabridged first act contains ample fun—opportunities for you to hear Sir Toby Belch belch, delight in a tempest wrecking the Illyrian coast, see Duke Orsino jump off a balcony into a bed of violets, and much, much, more!

But, what's more fun for you is perhaps our invitation for you to join us in creativity (with booty)! Koinup and the SL Shakespeare Company have teamed up to offer a SL photography contest with several different prizes for artwork derived from the SL Shakespeare Company's open-ended run of Twelfth Night, Act 1. Read More

The submission time will start on March, 1th. But I'll suggest to have a look at the rules, since now and read the Contest Guidelines, here

Koinup & Sl Shakespeare Company invite you to "See the Show, Take Photos, Win 100000L$"

Other resources:
Read Press Release
SL Shakespeare Company website
SL Shakespeare Company's Twelfth Night Contest Page

Koinup Newsletter. What you will read in the 11th letter

We have just delivered the 11th Koinup Newsletter. This month, you will read about the following topic:

The Koinup Exploration Tool!
If you didn't grab yet a copy (for free at XStreetSL), well probably you will appreciate a reminder. The Koinup Exploration HUD is a free tool that you can wear in Second Life and it will help you to discover new places and connect your avatar to your Koinup Account. Get more infos

The Coolest Avatars of the Month
This is for new members of Koinup. If you wanna some help or would love you to meet the coolest people here around, the best you can do is adding these coolest people/avatars to your friends

The Koinup Interviews
If you are following this blog, you probably know about the Koinup Interviews. Each week, we use to interview some Koinup artists, or active members or Metaverse explorers and we try to look into their creativity. Read the series here

Groups Announcement
We wouldn't be able to wait long before sayng that. In a couple of weeks (more or less) Koinup members will have the chance to create groups, run their own contests, open threads and forums on Koinup.
It is the biggest upgrade, since the launch of the website. Once groups will be available, Koinup will be more funny, more involving, more interesting for all of you. Stay tuned!!!!


Update: We just launched the Second Life Twelfth Contest
More info

The new hot sim in Second Life

Discovered by Bark, White Taj is quickly becoming a super favourite destination for Second Life members and Metaverse Explorers

I warmly suggest you to have a look with your eyes! (you can also get the direct slurl)

Koinup: Your <a href="http://www.koinup.com/">Virtual Life</a>

Spring in Virtual Worlds. Try to convey with an image

Spring is knocking at the door. So, I feel it would be nice to give community this artistic assignement: express in the best way, what the spring is or can be in virtual worlds.

Try to imagine the awakening of nature, or the awakening of senses or whatever is spring in your imagination.

Last year we made the Sims 2 Spring Contest, and it was a pouring of colours and ideas, maybe you can draw some inspiration from there.

Post your spring attempts on Koinup (maybe they are already on the website) and leave the links on the comments to this post

I'll post them in a next post.




image by by PrinzPhotostudio

Your Avatar is walking like a woman

When I directed attention to virtual worlds for the first time, I didn't know people devoted so much attention to their walks. It seemed to me a quite strange, cause eachone can fly in Second Life (and other virtual worlds).

Indeed, on Koinup there are thousands of photos depicting avatars walking

This amazing image by Abigale Heron, called "Hells Bells"
show you that walking could be a way express yourself in a virtual world


click on the image to view it all size

Hipihi, the chinese virtual world. Some screenshots

Jurinjuran just posted some pictures of the chinese metaverse Hipihi. It seems that the graphic quality of the world is better than some months ago.

Jurinjuran also posted some resources that could help not chinese people to managing the interface.

In virtual worlds you can touch the sky

Browsing the latest Koinup works, I stumbleupon this touching and lovely image by Moti Moody, called Cakenightmare


click on the image to view all size

Virtual Worlds Feng Shui

Machitopia just uploaded this cool machinima, called Guide to Virtual Feng Shui.

I invite you to watch, in order to experience a great music and some lovely stream of relaxing things....

Enjoy the Video

Hamlet Au is featuring Andromega Volare

Hamlet Au, lead of New World Notes and Koinup Partner, is featuring on his journal the work of Andega, also known in Second Life as Andromega Volare. Read the story.

Below a fantastic Andega's picture, called wreck framed

When digital art meet Second Life

SovereignCrux is a quite new member on Koinup, but she already can offer an impressive gallery of digital art.

Have a look at her Second Life Photo called Titans

click on the image to view all size

The best Second Life cars movie, you have ever seen

I invite you to have a look at this amazing manga-like machinima, created by
Ami Beattie

Virtual Melancholy

Today we like to feature on the blog this amazing melancholic landscape by YuNEO Nagy. Called Fallen Gods this photo has been shooted in the suggestive sim: Athan


click the image to get full size

Koinup Interviews: Sebcaen, when art meet the snapshots

Sebcaen, also known in Second Life as Sebcaen Ulysses, is a popular and belowed Second Life Photographer. He is managing a fantastic photo gallery both on Flickr (here) and on Koinup

Sebcaen owns a great taste for the beauty and he known how to get the most out of Second Life. He is particolarly interested in virtual landscapes and he is a great explorer and reporter. You can enjoy his SL landscapes here


Here's the Interview

Q: When you're creating new artworks, where do you draw ideas and inspiration from? And What is your background in Art creation?

A: I have no background in art creation, I start basically to treat some snaps for friends, and by the time, we can't go outside of that.
I use to work with my inspiration who can come from books, or movies I've seen.
But most of my ideas come from the sims I visit, or the peole I met in sl. Someone with a particular outfit, is the perfect target to be snapped :p



Q: What advice would you give to beginners with Second Life art and photography ?

Do it by pleasure only. Nobody will become millionar by treating snapshot, so this is not the good way. SL Photography is a wonderful medium to meet people, explore and discover skills or abilities you have but you don't know yet. You can express your vision, your mood like that.

Q: What are the 3 most interesting works on Koinup and why you love them ?


A: 1) Elegy from Ariel Brearly, because this woman is totally awesome, with a great style, and this pic with a cyber.... is fantastic. But it's very hard to choose one of her work...

2)Heaven by Tur, still the wallpaper on my computer. Because he's a great friend, and I know how he works... you can't imagine how much time he spent on this pic.

3)From child to woman by Trixibelle. Simply a stunning realisation, great idea by a wonderful person. A life testimonial in my view.

Q: Tell me two Koinup artists you should recommended for the next Koinup Interview?

If I'm right I never read an interview of Tur, and maybe Icarus Robbiani, who made great landscapes. (indeed, you can read the Icarus Interview, here)

Q: What are your upcoming artistic projects?

A: I want to continue like I do right now, visit (a lot of) sims, do interesting meetings, and work more with some people I already know. But I plan Nothing, I never succeed to realize them.

Q: Along with Second Life, are you exploring and testing other worlds as tools for creativity?

As a Linux user, there is not so much opportunity for us as other worlds. But if another virtual world open, sure I'll try.

Browse the amazing Sebcaen gallery

Barcelona goes virtual. Enjoy the beauty of this spanish Second Life sim

Browsing the photo stream of Shoji, I stumbleupon this amazing sim called: Barcelona del Oeste

It seems that the sim had been discovered some months ago, but only recently it got the interest of the community. I invite you to have a look at the photos shooted in the amazing virtual Barcelona

Koinup: Your <a href="http://www.koinup.com/">Virtual Life</a>

The Virtual Impressionism of SabrainSL. From Second Life to digital painting

Digital photos sometime can be mistaken can with paintings. Sabrainsl has a fantastic gallery of Second Life photos, that look like impressionistic paintures.

I invite you to have a look at her virtuous gallery. Below you can view her work: Clock Tower


(click on the image to see in the right size)

Cross World Machinima feature on Hiperia 3D News

The Koinup Media Partner Hiperia 3D News reviewed an amazing machinima created by Tegalas.

The video, called Atmosphere, has been recorded in several virtual worlds and games: Second Life, Assasin Creeds, Gothic 3. Read the story

A cool SL machinima, to say goodbye to this cold winter

Machitopia is a new Koinup member, but he is already posting some amazing Second Life videos.

I invite you to watch his Second Life Vlog or enjoy "The Winter Playground", a lovely and well done stream of the best Second Life snow covered sims.....

Koinup Exploration HUD v2.0

Talia Tokugawa just finished version 2.0 of the Koinup Exploration Hud.

You can grab the HUD for free on XstreetSL

You can get the instructions, here, on the Talia website, in the section dedicated to the Koinup Huds


What's new with the 2.0 version?

Well, let me give you some hints!

1) Slurl Generator:
By using the HUD menu, you can now generate the SLURL for the sim you are at the moment and open it in a chat. So, that it is ready for using on Koinup and other websites

2) Koinup Coolest Things :
By using the submenus, you can now connect with all the most interesting things happening on Koinup (the coolest sims of the latest days, the coolest avatars, the inworld Koinup group group chat, etc)

I highly recommended to give the HUD a try and leave your feedback to Talia


The old version got recently a genuine positive mention on the Koinup partner journal New World Notes. The new version is even more useful, interesting and very easy to manage!

The pack include the super-cool Koinup T-Shirt made by Hynesite Harbour

IMVU dools. Make the perfect babe in 3d

Just stumbleupon this amazing picture by MaggyWorld



You can find other great IMVU pictures on the MaggyWorld stream. Moreover, talking about IMVU Art it seems that dolls are one of the most favs subject in that scene. So I suggest to browse more virtual dools here!

The site of the Aliens in Second Life

Judi Newall just posted some photos about the sim Unknowable, also called Alien Isle

Koinup: Your <a href="http://www.koinup.com/">Virtual Life</a>

The sim is ideal for your Sci-Fi adventures and identities. You can find there some amazing builds, mines, cryptonite pieces, etc..highly suggested also for recording machinima videos

Have a look with your eyes

Neko and Steampunk Shops in a Cyberpunk virtual street

Just stumbleupon this cool sim, called Bytegang. This sim has been discovered by Talia Tokugawa (Talia, I wanna remember is the author of the Koinup Explorers HUD)

On Bytegang you can find Neko and Steampunk stuffs or browse cool cyberpunk and oriental-blade runners like builds....

Here's the widget with the latest photos from this place

Koinup: Your <a href="http://www.koinup.com/">Virtual Life</a>

I invite you to have a look with your eyes (direct slurl) or browse more Bytegang works

The Ordinary Virtual World. What people love to do when they are avatars

If you expect Virtual Worlds to host only extraordinary events, avatars and things, well, probably, you'd let down. Virtual Worlds are often ordinary worlds to manage and make ordinary things. What we frequently see on Koinup is that people love to capture everyday life also while they are in virtual worlds. They photograph or blog about chairs, tables, coffee, they drive cars if though they could fly. What excite us is that virtual worlds are places where people make real experiences and try to express themselves in a way that maybe is not possible in real life.



Images by: AmiBeattie and Shoji

AM Radio's new sim

There is a new fantastic sim around to visit: Welsh Lakes, the new AM Radio's build

AM Radio is a well known builder in Second Life. Some of his creations are the most viewed, photographed and popular areas in Second Life.

Just to name a few:
Wales Springs
University of KY (where you can find a great AM Radio exhibition)
Welsh Cove

Look here to grab the AM Radio's new sim widget



(image above The space between these trees by Carlotta Ceawlin)

The clickaholic era enter Second Life

I just stumbleupon this funny and so well made Second Life Machinima directed by HIROZA called "Clickaholic Gag Movie"

Watch it now!

Koinup Interviews: when Sims Art meet photography

The Sims 2 Art scene is incredibly rich and vibrant. Ticticc13 is a well known, skilled and excelent Sims Artist

She has a long experience in the Sims Creativity scene. She run a website devoted to her creations and helped us as judge in the Koinup Sims 2 Spring Contest

You can browse here her fantastic stream of photos

Here's the Interview

Q: When you're creating new artworks, where do you draw ideas and inspiration from?
A: I draw mine mostly from movies, TV commercials, Music Videos, Books and things I see around me... Everyday life happenings... Even the most boring to the most exciting... Whether I'm drinking coffee here, or waiting for the day out of work, I observe almost everything... From kids I see in the morning, until late nights when I'm still up. Even simple gestures of my officemates can inspire me. ;)



Q: What advice would you give to newcomers and beginners with The Sims Art and photography?

A: I think every Simmer knows where to go... There's two kind of Sims 2 Art for me... One involves drawing and photomanipulation and the other one, pure in-game photography. Even though I favor the latter, my advice is not to limit yourselves in just one style. Be creative and don't be afraid to experiment. Trust your work. Know the Sims 2 game, and learn from the experts the trick of the trade. Not only with virtual world artists but also pro-photographers and digital painters. Aim to be the best. Always.

Q: What are you favourite tools for editing? Is there some cool tricks about photo editing and/or your artistic style you'd love share with friends ?

A: My all time favorite editing software has always been Photoimpact. I also use two others, Photoshop - when I need to do super heavy edits or Photomatix Pro when I want to generate Sims 2 HDR's (High Dynamic Range images). For drawing and minor enhancements, I use a Wacom Graphire tablet. As for tricks, I made an editing tutorial recently for everyone which can be downloaded freely from The Sims Resource or in my Flickr. Of course, I'll be very, very happy to see images edited with my technique and hope you find it useful as much as I do.

Style, pretty variable depending on mood, but I absolutely love modern-contempo theme in realistic settings. Don't limit yourselves to just one style. ;)


Q: Tell me your absolute 3 fav works on Koinup and why you love them

A: I'd say Pale Rain by Sephiramy. I love the full composition of it. The colors, the drawing, the Sim models she used and the theme. SHe never fails to amaze me. (pale rain is also one of the winner of the Sims 2 Spring Contest)

Spring Itog by KateK. I love the composition as well and the carefree way she edited it.

Wishing in Spring by Celestialshores. Because of its simplicity and everything was effectively done in-game.

Q: Two Koinup members you should recommended for the next Koinup Interview and why?

A: Celestialshores - I have always adored her simplistic but very effective in-game photography.

Sephiramy - is the finest Sims 2 frankensteining artist for me.

Q: What are your upcoming artistic projects?

A: I'm currently working on a Sims 2 Machinima. Besides editing Sims 2 in-game screenshots, it's also one of my favorite things to do with the Sims 2.

Q: Along with The Sims, are you exploring and testing other worlds or games as tools for creativity

A: Hmmm, I did with the other EA/Maxis game 'Spore.' I would like to try my hand on Second Life sometime.

Go ahead and browse some other fantastic TicTicc13 works

Hiperia3D news will team up with Koinup, to spread the best virtual worlds machinima

We are so proud to tell you that we are partnering with the metaverse blog: Hiperia 3D News to showcase the best virtual worlds machinima published on Koinup.

Each week, Hiperia 3D News will publish and review the best machinima available on our archive.

Hiperia3D News is a cool blog covering the virtual worlds news. Jordi R. Cardona, owner of the blog, has a genuine multiworld approach on its journal. As Koinup, Hiperia 3D news is covering the whole metaverse scene, with a clear focus on the creativity of communities.

The first machinima featured is "Just Shut Up, and Reboot" by FreyjaMoon

Watch it, now